Pages

Tuesday, December 30, 2014

Roth by Jessica Frances (The Invasion Trilogy, #2)

Rothby Jessica Frances

Carol's rating: 4 stars

Roth is book two in The Invasion Trilogy by Jessica Frances.

Book two starts up right where we ended up at the end of book one. Mattie and Hank were sent to Roth. They are forced to live in a huge tent city with all the other refugees from earth. Roth has two suns so the weather can be unbearingly hot at times. Mattie believes that Marduke and Logan are dead. She has turned her grief to anger and vengeance. She and Hank are part of a group that want to fight and win back earth. They still don’t realize that the machines aren’t the only aliens. Some of what they think are humans speak with an awkward accent, much like Marduke’s. All the humans believe that these are brainwashed humans. They don’t realize that they ARE the aliens.

Ival has taken Marduke home to Oden. Marduke is healed but kept prisoner. When his Mother visits him, she explains that all royals have had their fertility enhanced to ensure many heirs. So if Marduke has been intimate with his human girlfriend, then he needs to know there is a very strong chance she might be pregnant. Marduke is frantic to escape so he can find Mattie. But even if he gets off Oden, which planet was she sent to? How will he ever find her?

“The fight hasn’t left me, however my loneliness has. I have Marduke, and I always will.”

Marduke does eventually find Mattie but not in any way I would have imagined. They are so happy to have found one another but once on Roth, there are new horrors to face. There are the claws, a horrible creature from a planet Oden tried to take and failed many years ago. These creatures are ruthless and vile. And even worse, they discover huge nests of eggs. The claws are reproducing.

Marduke and Mattie’s love gives them strength. But Marduke must tell Mattie about the possibility of being pregnant. How will she take the news? The dangers they face on Roth are crazy, not only from the claws, but also from one of the men in their group, Kane, that doesn’t trust Marduke or Mattie. At every turn they are faced with a new crisis, each one making me wonder how they will ever get out of it. They are even forced to trust an enemy they swore to kill to survive.

“I’ll always be by your side, Mattie, no matter what.”

Each chapter is told from either Mattie or Marduke’s perspective which I liked. It helped me so much to better relate to why they did some of the things they did. And it helped me to also understand the strength of their love, of their bond. At times, though, I have to admit that their inner monologue sometimes went on a little too long. I really liked the way Jessica ends each chapter. I am in the habit of trying to end a reading session at the end of a chapter. But Jessica always ends the chapter with a little cliff hanger that makes it so hard to stop. I want to keep going to find out what is going to happen next.

This was an awesome sequel to the first book and I will be tortured during the wait to see how this all ends. Will Mattie and Marduke survive and get a Happy Ever After? Where is Hank? Will they be able to find Lisa, Logan, Hannah and the children? Will they ever be able to return to Earth? Stay Tuned to find out!